Reflection

Reflection plays a huge part in increasing one's self awareness. Assessing

personal skills and strengths allows for an increased ability to improve upon existing

abilities. This process takes careful planning and dedication in order to facilitate

successful self improvement. The key is to look within and pull from both strengths and

weaknesses to create a comprehensive development assessment.

Understanding a person’s individual learning style is one of the most important

features in the developmental process. “Your learning style is the sum of the way you

receive information and the way you process that information” (Jahiel, 2008, p.32). For

the purpose of this discussion, the focus will be on the visual learning style. Visual

learners acquire information through written work and therefore prefer to data in the form

of handouts, lecture notes, flash cards, books, or Power Point presentations. Mixon

(2004) said “Visual learners are often neglected in rehearsal because verbal instruction,

which may be ineffective for them, is used most often. These students benefit from seeing

graphic representations, visual models, and demonstrations of skills and concepts.

Writing words or drawing figures will help these students learn new content.” Visual

learners obtain and retain information in a much more productive way when they can see

the information that they are being taught

The process of facilitating a visual learner is a pretty simple one, but is sometimes

overlooked by those providing information. Often times the information is provided

verbally, but not followed up by written material to confirm. Visual learners tend take

more notes, use color codes to differentiate information, and utilize symbols to note

specific data. On another note, this particular style of learning also acquires knowledge

well through verbal instruction. Since many visual learners are also able to learn

verbally, this makes instruction much easier for the demonstrator as they can incorporate

auditory learners into their presentation. However, it is still vital to focus on providing

visual material as well as given oral instruction.

Strengths are those factors that assist in a successful learning process. They are

the cornerstone for the individual production of quality work. Organizational as well as

strong verbal and written skills are strengths that help to facilitate a successful

individual. The key to organization is detail. Individuals with strong organizational

skills tend to be very methodical in their approach to work. They have their tasks

outlined, their materials in order, and have a clear picture of the process. The also have a

tendency to make plenty of notes in order to remind them of task they needed to complete

or a piece of information that they want to include in a paper or presentation. Having

these strong organizational skills allows the individual to produce a worth while piece of

work.

The ability to communicate well verbally and on paper is also key in producing

great work. In every career verbal and written skills play an integral part of the

developmental process. The skills take lots of practice and preparation in order to perfect

them. “Verbal skills involve many of the same elements as written abilities вЂ"

organization, word choice and clarity -- but they require attention to personal dynamics,

too” (Hughes, 2003, p.21). In verbal and written communication, it is first important to

know the audience, outline the ideas, and deliver them in an organized fashion with a

tone relative to the type of information and environment. Hughes (2003) mentions that

“The key to effective writing is an ability to organize